You Dare To Call Me A Terrorist?

Well, what a week. I'm sure if you're reading this you'll know exactly what I'm talking about so I won't spend time regurgitating a blow by blow account. However, I hope you'll forgive me for attempting to take a slightly irreverent look at recent events. The reason I ask preemptive forgiveness is due to the sky-high levels of anger, resentment, mistrust and desire for a fight among individuals and factions all claiming a stake-holding in this story.

Even the high and mighty (tongue firmly in cheek) and obsessed (tongue not in cheek) Chris Graham of The Rangers Standard thought the story too good to pass without a lengthy blog.

Let me make my position clear at the onset. I am part of no faction, cabal, clique, forum, website, knitting group or provisional army. I'm a humble independent. A bit like the anti-sleaze MP Martin Bell, but without the white suit. I'm also an advocate of free speech who finds it difficult to be offended by anything anyone says...or sings. Maybe I'm just not a reasonable enough person.

A small, but vocal, group of fans are at the vanguard (Can I use that word when discussing anything related to Celtic, or has it been hijacked by the uber-Protestant tub-thumpers who have a penchant for threatening anyone, including some of their own, that don't fully subscribe to their La-la land vision of planet earth?) of all that is dominating, not only every waking hour of Celtic fans obsessed with all things Celtic, but also the consciences of leading politicians, QC's and, of course, obsessed Rangers bloggers.

Love them, loathe them or don't really care about them, you have to admit that, like Celtic in Europe this season, this small group are able to punch above their weight regarding being heard.

Disclaimer: just because I use the the phrase 'punch above their weight' doesn't mean I'm trying to attach any subliminal messages of violence to the group. Nor am I insinuating they're all wee men in need of a good feed. Just like race, religion, political beliefs or class I don't discriminate against fat, thin, tall, small or medium people, or those who prefer Coronation Street to Eastenders.

Such is the heightened anxiety among some, and the feverish appetite for digging dirt among others, it seems every word must be carefully chosen and triple checked for fear of it being used against you in evidence, whether in a court of law or the court of public opinion on social media.

And lo and behold anyone stupid enough to want to sing songs that any reasonable person may find offensive.

There's that 'reasonable person' again.

Okay, let's get it out there.

Anyone who gets offended by someone singing about their history or traditions, and wants them jailed for doing so, cannot possibly be as reasonable a person as they would have us believe. In fact, if they are intolerant of those who wish to sing such songs then it is these so-called reasonable persons who are the bigots.

Singing songs is how some people celebrate their culture. Would all the politically correct middle classes be so quick to condemn if one of the teams had an African connection and sung about slavery?

I think not.

I'm not saying all the songs are wonderful little melodies with enlightening lyrics. But it is part of the culture of a larger section of society than just those who frequent social media with their 'I'm offended at everything' philosophy.

But it's against the law I hear the panty-wetters also cry from the safe distance of their conservatories.

Do they believe revolutionaries who decide to make a stand against the state will be treated in an appropriate manner whereby the full force of the law will hit them so hard they'll be shot through the earth and reemerge in Australia?

No, wait, an enlightened nation wouldn't send criminals to the other side of the world for what is, in effect, victimless crimes. Well, not now anyway.

But still, these dastardly criminals, especially the ones who dare sing songs about terrorists fighting the evil empire, should be locked up, according to Darth Salmond and his FoCus stormtroopers.

Perhaps he has a valid point. What reasonable person wants to live in a society where sections of the community rejoice in the actions of alleged terrorists?

Some readers might be shocked at the use of the alleged in that last statement. In fact, many will be downright outraged at this humble writer taking such a liberty. Everyone knows the British government labelled the Irish Republican Army as terrorists.

But, as I'm sure many of you will say, it's not as simple as that.

Here's a link to a lengthy article about the problems of defining Terrorism.

http://www.ict.org.il/ResearchPublications/tabid/64/Articlsid/432/Default.aspx

And here's a link to an article about atrocities carried out by the British Army.

http://www.britisharmykillings.org.uk/page/113/The-Issuess

How does the song go again?

You dare to call me a terrorist while you look down your gun.

But we must follow the laws of the land in which we live is still the call from those with their eyes closed.

If everyone thought like them Britain would still own America.

Thankfully, American rebels, brave enough to stand up for what they believed, took on the might of the British Empire and won their freedom.

What's the difference between those gallant American patriots and the Irish Republican movement?

Imagine if Britain had said to America, 'Okay, you can have your independence, but we're keeping six states.'

How long would that have lasted before an American Republican Army attempted to right that wrong?

But let's not get too bogged down in history. We're here for a quick laugh at the ludicrousness of Alex 'The Fuhrer' Salmond's flagship Bill.

I can't help think it's just as well this new Offensive Behaviour Bill isn't retrospective. If it was then The Special A.K.A. could be facing life sentences for their blatantly outrageous propaganda campaign that culminated in them releasing a song calling for the immediate release of a terrorist convicted of plotting to overthrow the regime.

Warning: clicking this link will not only lead to a song about releasing a terrorist from captivity, it will also linger in your head longer than necessary and may pop out at an inopportune moment thus causing personal distress and embarrassment.

http://youtu.be/fm7p-RLFg2I

It is worth repeating that not only did this song directly challenge the British government's stance on Mr Mandela, it was also one of those tunes that, once in your head, would stay there all day and drive you nuts.

This was an example of politically motivated subliminal subversion, or words to that effect. Radio stations promoted the evil campaign by constantly playing the song.

Once-innocent, law-abiding citizens found themselves absently singing aloud whilst performing menial chores or watching landscapes drift by sitting in trains, buses and cars.

'Freeeeeeee-eeee Nelson Mandela.'

Friends and family would give these lost souls a little nudge to awaken and disturb them from their renditions, only to start doing likewise a short time later.

'Freeeeeeee-eeee Nelson Mandela.'

It finally got to the stage where millions of people around the world where being driven nuts by the horribly catchy tune loitering in their heads for days and weeks on end.

There was only one thing to do in order to save the world.

Nelson Mandela the terrorist was freed, and instantly became Nelson Mandela everyone's favourite uncle.

The world rejoiced at the sight of Nelson Mandela strolling to freedom, and breathed a sigh of relief as the song about freeing him was finally and definitively confined to the archives.

But, lest we forget, if this Offensive Behaviour Bill had been operational and global at the time, the song might never have been heard publicly, and poor Nelson Mandela would still be locked-up to this day.

In fact, if the British government of the day had their way Mr Mandela would still be locked up.

Here's a few quotes:

'This hero worship is very much misplaced'- John Carlisle MP, on the BBC screening of the Free Nelson Mandela concert in 1990

'The ANC is a typical terrorist organisation ... Anyone who thinks it is going to run the government in South Africa is living in cloud-cuckoo land' - Margaret Thatcher, 1987

'How much longer will the Prime Minister allow herself to be kicked in the face by this black terrorist?' - Terry Dicks MP, mid-1980s

'Nelson Mandela should be shot' - Teddy Taylor MP, mid-1980s

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/from-terrorist-to-tea-with-the-queen-1327902.html

Yesterday's terrorists could be today's political and moral leaders. Because for everyone who claims so and so is a terrorist there are others who claim so and so is nothing more than a freedom fighter fighting oppression.

http://antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=2141

So, as you can see, tarring anyone with the terrorist brush is not as clear cut as some would like to believe.

If only Jerry Dammer's (founder and song writer for The Specials) muse had grabbed him earlier and taken him in a different direction then Scotland and Britain, if not the world, might be different place.

He wrote Free Nelson Mandela in 1984 after attending an anti-apartheid concert. Imagine he'd written a catchy wee number and called it Free Bobby Sands instead.

Where's the Justice?

A group of young lads decided to walk to the football one Saturday afternoon. They didn't go out their way to choose a route that would take them into conflict with opposing fans. Such a route might well have brought the wrath of the law who see large groups of young lads supporting different teams as the equivalent of opposing armies even though football-related violence, especially at non Old Firm games, is not perceived as a problem in Scotland.

The young lads didn't arm themselves with knives or other offensive weapons, though some external commentators launched an immediate smear campaign against them by deliberately spreading such lies.

They didn't harass Saturday afternoon shoppers and prevent them from bargain hunting in the world famous Barras market.

They didn't force local shops to close their doors for fear of being ransacked.

They didn't launch any full-frontal assaults on the police present.

In effect, this wasn't the Rangers fans in Manchester.

This wasn't anti-capitalist demonstrators out to bring down the government or global banking system.

This was, and I think it needs repeating many times, a group of young lads with an average age of about fifteen. Sure, there were some older lads, but the vast majority of this group of football supporters were teenage school kids.

How much of a threat to public disorder were they?

This is not Tottenham or Croydon or any other English inner city cauldron.

Glasgow has no recent history of mass rioting in the streets.

This group of fans, no matter what some may say, think or lie, have no history of violence or rioting.

Malicious rumours of their involvement in the mysterious Dundee riot on Boxing Day have failed to materialise into hard evidence.

How can that be?

This group is the most filmed group of people in the country.

Officers from Alex Salmond's Untouchables (officially known as FoCus) follow them around almost twenty four hours a day.

CCTV and handheld camcorders film their every move both inside and outside football grounds around the country.

Yet, remarkably, and this is definitely worth repeating over and over, not only has no one produced a morsel of video footage of their involvement in the mysterious Dundee riot. No one has produced any video evidence of any riot.
But this hasn't stopped obsessed bloggers disregarding these facts and spouting lies about this group of young lads whose primary objective is to bring a bit of colourful noise to match days.

Critics, like those mentioned above, who won't rest until this group of young lads is disbanded, also hark back to the 'No bloodstained poppy on our hoops' banner.

Yet this banner was not illegal.

Many Celtic fans also thought the banner was in poor taste. That is their prerogative. But I repeat. That banner was not and never will be illegal.

In fact, their stance on this issue is running parallel with others with simialr feelings around the country. There is a growing argument about people feeling forced to wear the red poppy at Remembrance time for fear of being labelled as unpatriotic.

Others feel the red poppy has been hijacked to build support for British troops currently fighting illegal wars in foreign lands.

What other horrific acts have this group of young Celtic fans allegedly carried out?

There was an uproar when they designed a banner depicting a gunman shooting a zombie.

At this point I feel the need to clarify this for overseas readers who might be confused as to the social standing of zombies in Scotland. Many will be wondering what government policy is on vampires, werewolves and a host of other mythical creatures.

Please don't be put off visiting Scotland. Well, not for this reason anyway. There are no real zombies roaming the streets of Glasgow or wandering the mountains and glens of the Highlands.

The story began when a football club in Glasgow died, or, to give the process its rightful name, the football club was liquidated.

It was a sad day for many...but a joyous one for many more.

However, a Yorkshire man, whose heroes were Burke, Hare and Howard Carter, decided he could make some shekels if he could resurrect the dead club.

He purchased the tomb known as Ibrox Stadium and claimed all the honours won by the dead club as his own. Here's a Charles Green quote on the topic: 'They're my titles. I bought them.'

He then started a new team that, through jiggery-pokery and sheer effrontery, managed to get a place in the Scottish Football League at the expense of older and more deserving clubs such as Spartans. Then without as much as a blink he named this new team The Rangers and tried to pass it off as the dead Rangers.

Fans of the recently deceased club rejoiced as if the messiah himself had resurrected. For instead of a huge boulder pushed aside to clear the entrance to the tomb The Rangers pushed aside a mountain of unpaid debts and stepped into the sunlight promising a new era of milk and honey.

This, dear readers from further afield, is why they are now known universally as zombie Rangers.

Reasonable persons can surely see the humour in attaching such a tag to a club that's come back from the dead.

Unfortunately, there are many unreasonable persons now trying to claim calling new Rangers zombies...and you really will struggle to believe this...sectarian.

Such is the level of hatred and intolerance of some in this country they can only view the world and everything in it through their own parochial ignorance.

Attempts were made, remarkably, to prosecute those seen holding the banner depicting a zombie being shot. But, as all reasonable persons suspected, those charges were laughed out of court.

Seems the judge had a sense of humour.

Perhaps the biggest thing opponents hate about this group of young lads is the fact they like to sing about Irish history.

This the heart of the matter.

A sizeable chunk of the Scottish population hate the Irish and anything to do with Ireland, especially descendants of those Irish-Catholics who emigrated to Scotland to escape the Great Famine that occurred in Ireland in the nineteenth century while Britain controlled it, or to seek work in an industrial Britain crying out for labour.

Whereas most Scottish citizens are warm and welcoming to immigrants of all creed and colour, unfortunately many don't view Catholic immigrants as human-beings.

Believe me, I know how hyperbolic such a statement sounds, especially in what is regarded as one of the most civilised nations on earth.

But one only has to spend five minutes on Twitter or Rangers fan forums to discover the real dark underbelly of Scottish society.

Of course, it's not as bad as it used to be, you will hear many say. And they will use the fact Irish Catholics reached economic parity with the indigenous population some time ago, albeit about sixty years after similar immigrants who'd headed west to the United States of America reached parity.

But, to some, that doesn't tell the whole story.

For although great steps have been made in many professions there is still a perception of anti-Irish Catholicism in the armed forces and police.

And the fact that this young group of lads in question sing about an oppressed people fighting back against their oppressors seems to cause much anger.

Now I don't know about you, but where there's an oppressed and an oppressor I'm always going to take the side of the oppressed.

Apparently, in Scotland anyway, such thinking makes me and countless others sectarian.

You see, this group of young lads who wanted to walk together to the football on Saturday were doing so to highlight the oppression their group is currently suffering from.

Young lads are being taken from their homes, workplace and even the airport by a special task force of police officers aiming to get high numbers of arrests to justify their, and Alex Salmond's rushed Offensive Behaviour and Threatening Communications Act, existence.

How can highlighting state oppression be classed as sectarian I hear you ask?

Truth is, I haven't a clue how a reasonable person can arrive at that conclusion.

But according to Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill that is what Saturday's gathering of young lads was. A sectarian gathering.

Mind you, this is the same Kenny MacAskill who described a stadium full of Rangers fans singing about being up to their knees in Fenian blood as a great spectacle.

It's also the same Kenny MacAskill who was arrested for being drunk and disorderly while in London for an England v Scotland game.

Justice Minister? You're having a laugh.

Scottish independence? You're having a laugh.

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to lose my sense of humour over this lack of justice, and so are many others.